All About Thickness

By Yoshio Ishida

Cover
Details
Blurb
Contents
Review

Details show/hide

Title	All About Thickness
Author	Yoshio Ishida
Translator	Stuart Dowsey
Publisher	Ishi Press
Code	g34
Date	Apr-90
ISBN	4-87187-034-0
Pages	192
Dimensions	8 1/4. x 5 7/8. - 209mm x 149mm
In print status	Out of Print

Blurb show/hide

A completely new kind of go book.

Two-colour printing makes the advanced concepts of thickness and influence graphically clear - and instantly understandable.

Most go books are top heavy, with text and endless explanatory diagrams. Ishida's approach in this book is the opposite - large diagrams, simple explanations, a minimum of mind numbing text - yet this is the most successful attempt in the go literature to convey to go players of all levels the secrets of building thickness and making effective use of influence.

How do you build thickness? What areas of the board should you aim to control? In which direction do stones exert their force? How close should you approach a strong enemy position? How many points can you expect to convert a thick position into? The answers to these and many other questions will be apparent at a glance when you read this book.

All About Thickness , the first book of its kind, was a best seller in Japan. Go players around the world should find the english version just as enlightening as Japanese go fans.

Contents show/hide

Foreword	...v
Translator's Notes	...vi
Example 1: Connect Up The Star Points	...2
Example 2: Blockade the Enemy	...6
Example 3: The Attach and Extend Joseki: A Good Example of Thick Shape	...10
Example 4: Thickness and Extensions from a Star Point Joseki	...14
Example 5: Keep Your Nose in Front	...18
Example 6: The Large Scale Push	...22
Example 7: Make Thickness During the Opening	...26
Example 8: The 3-3 Invasion	...30
Example 9: Creation of Thickness Requires Flexibility	...34
Example 10: Variations on a Joseki Designed to Take Outside Influence	...38
Example 11: The Power and Range of Thickness	...42
Example 12: Pincers and Extensions	...46
Example 13: Attack or Defense	...50
Example 14: The Grand Sacrifice	...54
Example 15: The Enemy's Vital Point is My Vital Point	...60
Example 16: Combining an Extension With an Approach Move	...64
Example 17: Use Thickness in Your Strategy	...68
Example 18: In Case of Opposing Thicknesses, First to Play Has the Advantage	...72
Example 19: Take Territory While Attacking	...76
Example 20: Protecting the Cut is a Thick Defense	...80
Example 21: Choose a Thickness Joseki According to the Corner Situation	...84
Example 22: The Ladder and the Outward Facing Joseki	...88
Example 23: The Ideal Thickness Trap	...92
Example 24: Taking the High Ground	...96
Example 25: Thickness and Profit in Simple Versions of the Taisha Joseki	...100
Example 26: One Line Can Make All the Difference	...104
Example 27: Maneuvering for Territorial Moyo	...108
Example 28: Pushing Out to Utilize the Sanren-sei	...112
Example 29: Inviting Your Opponent to Build Thickness is a Grave Error	...116
Example 30: How to Make Territory and Thickness in Actual Play	...122
Example 31: The Balance Between Territory and Thickness	...126
Example 32: Turn a Wall Into Large Scale Real Territory	...130
Example 33: Clear Cut Spheres of Influence and Settled Territory	...134
Example 34: The Perfect Solid Connection and the 'Thousand Dollar' Bend	...138
Example 35: The Early Bird CAtches the Worm	...142
Example 36: Don't Get Too Close to Thickness	...146
Example 37: Playing At The Boundary of Influence	...150
Example 38: Play in the Corner and Build a Large Moyo	...154
Example 39: The Point that Connects in Three Directions Can't be Bad	...158
Example 40: Imperfect Thickness Can Be Erased Completely	...162
Example 41: Thickness as the Basis of Large Moyos	...166
Example 42: Eliminate the Cutting Point	...170
Example 43: Cover the Center With Thickness	...174
Example 44: The Capping Move and Thickness Make Good Partners	...178
Example 45: Widen Your Horizons	...182
'Thickness' in Go Proverbs	...186
Index: Types of Thickness	...193

Reviews show/hide

Review by Lawrence Ku (AGA) show/hide 18/10/2004

Review Author

Lawrence Ku (AGA)

Reviewer Strength

4k (IGS)

Many beginners have this kind of horrible experience: stronger players give handicap stones and take territory, leaving the weaker player thickness which they then destroy. So when I was a low kyu player I was afraid to trade territory for thickness. But after I read All About Thickness, I started to understand how to use my thickness and now sometimes I like it even more than territory. Forty-five examples illustrate whole board situation and unlike most go books that use text, All About Thickness uses red arrows and text on the figures to point out where and why thickness works. I like this book very much because with large diagrams and little text, you can finish it quickly and even if you don't learn all the techniques or strategy, that makes you feel good. Also, as one of few go books with a red cover, All About Thickness is outstanding on the bookshelf just because of its color.

Review by David Carlton show/hide

Review Author	David Carlton	Reviewer Strength	1 kyu
Author's Email	carlton@bactrian.org	website	http://www.bactrian.org/~carlton/

This is a book about thickness, and it's completely different from any other go book published in English. It consists of 45 Examples; each Example has two pages, each consisting of a big diagram illustrating the situation at hand, with a few words written in red on the diagram pointing out various aspects and with areas of influence shaded in on the board. There are then two more pages with a diagram taking up most of the page but with some actual text at the bottom of the page, and the diagrams don't have the snazzy color and shading.

Depending on the sort of person you are, that may sound bad or good. It works for me, and I think that that sort of presentation works particularly well with a book about thickness, since thickness is something that demands a visceral understanding that is hard to convey with words, so you really have to show people how to get a feel for thickness by using a physical board and stones or by using a diagram, and the large colorful diagrams really do have more of an impact than normal diagrams would.

At the end of the book, there's also a list of 40 proverbs involving thickness, with a line or two of explanation of each. And there's even an index. This book was published in both hardcover and softcover; the hardcover version is called G34H.